Posted on Feb 27, 2013

Fox News host Sean Hannity might be regretting having invited Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison to appear on his program Monday night. The Minnesota congressman confronted the caustic commentator over a mashup video that, given the editing and the ominous-sounding background music (“O Fortuna” from the “Carmina Burana”), was meant to smear President Obama (or, as Hannity called him, President Panic) over the sequester.

“Quite frankly, you are the worst excuse for a journalist I’ve ever seen,” he said. “What you just displayed was not journalism. It was yellow journalism. It wasn’t anything close to try to tell the American people what’s really going on. I mean it’s just shocking.”

Ellison later called out Hannity for being a Republican, a charge the Fox News host denied. “I’m a registered conservative,” he said, as if there were any difference.

“You are a shill for the Republican Party,” Ellison responded. On that point, he’s entirely correct.